The drought is really playing havoc with the real estate market on the Central Coast, suffering due to the worst water restrictions in NSW history. With Level 4 restrictions now in force (Oct 1) Gosford City Council has been forced to act, with total dam storage levels now below 16%. With public beach showers turned off, garden watering completely banned (unless you have your own rainwater or bore tank) pool filling a no no and golf courses severly curtailed to mere hours a week, it makes for a very brown environment indeed. A friend of the family was up there recently for some auctions (which didn't sell) and the mood was pretty low, with lookers and genuine buyers thin on the ground. Let's hope we get some Noah strength rain soon where it's needed most.
I'd say that it is needed most in the catchment areas - it can pour there without worrying too much about the topsoil.
Over the last year or so, seeing the rain in Sydney falling mostly over the coast, with very little hitting the catchments - my wife posed the question "why don't we move the dams to where the rain falls ?" Interesting point. It's like looking at Sydney's "storm zone" ... most of our wild weather follows a pretty narrow path that includes the airport at Mascot and through the eastern suburbs. We miss almost all of Sydney's springtime wild weather here on the lower north shore. (Of course this leads to the obvious question of why build an airport in the middle of Sydney's storm zone ... it's not as if that weather pattern hasn't been happening since the first fleet arrived !!). Given the propensity for rain to fall along the east coast (as warm, moist air meets the cooler air over the ocean and condenses) ... it would make sense to somehow try and capture this. Perhaps we put a roof over Marourbra beach (might stop some of the gang violence if everyone was a bit cooler and not so sunburnt ?) and build a large rainwater tank to capture the rain ? Just trying to think outside the box
I've got a 4,000ltr water tank at my place at Narrabeen. Its always full... Well, it is a sub-tropical rainforest block after all. We never lack for rain. Cheers, Michael.
I think Peter Beattie claims to have already patented this idea (New Dam Projects), but as they're Govt projects, the day they finally finish them, several billion over budget, will be the day the drought breaks forever on the East Coast Ooh I'm even more cynical on Mondays than usual ...
Just a thought. East coast NSW water temperature has risen 0.5 degrees in the last few years, some areas have altered current flows with water circulating at 2 degrees higher than normal ... and the el Nino is just starting again!!! Perhaps the low rainfall is here to stay when the air over the water warms? So where does that put towns in the rainfall doldrums as investment opportunities? Do you take advantage of "temporary" drought events or is this more permanent? Away from the coast, Goulburn almost ran out of water last year - that doesn't make for good capital growth prospects. Perhaps rainwater tanks or bores are the future of "property improvements" to attract tenants and increase value? Just thoughts, Dave
We have a bore and operate only on that and rainwater tanks. People used to pity us (oh that must be awful etc etc)... now they envy us ... it feels pretty decadent watering the garden as long as I like from our own supply. It won't take long before all local Gumbyments start metering bores when they realise the potential to deplete the underground water table (my oldies pay $100 per annum to have a bore in their country town and were horrified at the extra impost . ) We use our water (even the free stuff) wisely, but I know of people boasting of pumping 1500 gallons per hour virtually continuously from their bores. The poor old Mother Earth just can't keep coming up with the goods for those who want to do things to excess
Heres one possible solution. Waterfresh Met these people last week and attended a presentation on Eco developing. I believe its the future as far as sustainability and water management is concerned. The key will be to drought proof new subdivisions as well as manage wastewater more efficiently. This is a global problem, but we can lead by example here in Australia. KEvin
I think this is a really important issue. It should be mandatory for all new properties to incorporate grey water systems and solar/wind power. N.
Its easy enough to incorporate the purple pipe during the construction of the subdivision phase and then make it a condition in the building covenant that all houses have to seperately plumb their grey water from black water. Obviously much harder and more expensive to retrofit in an existing subdivision or suburb. All it would take is for one proactive eco sensitive developer to put such a submission to a receptive council, and prove its cost effective viability, and then it 1. becomes an attractive marketing edge for that subdivision and 2. sets the benchmark for all future subdivisions I don't think its far off. Kevin
Or.... We could implement wholesale water recycling and reclaimation, re-introducing the clean water back upstream in the existing water delivery pipelines - getting over the ill-informed media hype of drinking "recycled sewerage" - saving tons of money in specially built localised solutions which miss the huge amount of water wasted in the rest of the legacy city. I believe that, unfrotunately, our water recycling debate in this country is seriously poor. Gotta say that I side with Malcolm Turnbull on this one. Seems to be one of the only public figures talking sense. Then again - there's plenty of opinions different to mine... Cheers,
If people want green lawns/gardens these days, it's not that difficult to install a spear pump or a water tank. They really aren't that expensive when you consider their life range and the ever increasing cost of town water. I have holiday letting properties on the Gold Coast which is also very dry at the moment (even though our dam is at 87% we cannot use hoses???). One cyclone here and we'll have floods. I am presently having spear pumps installed at these properties to keep the grass green, plants alive, wash down the building, hose out the bins etc. It certainly makes a difference to the aesthetics of the place when you have green grass Healthy plants and a fresh clean property whilst all the neighbours front yards a brown and dry. New developments on the Gold Coast are required to install rain water tanks under the new town planning scheme which I believe is fantastic.
Bundy, how deep is it before the spear hits the water table ? - I gather these are good on the coast close to the ocean ? Our bore is about 25 metres deep and its reasonable supply. I heard the price of bores has gone up like water tanks ... one guy our concretor knows paid $6,500 for a bore - not sure what depth that was ... bit steep if it was an IP I guess
